Archive:Exec report - Vice President 2009 - 2010

Ethos

VP interim (April-July): Christian Champagne

After the 2009-2010 VOC Elections, no one came forward to run as VP. Since Longhike happens to be one of the VP's tasks and the most important event on the VOC calendar, I decided to fill in the position until a more suitable person (aka. UBC student) could take officially over. My interim term as VP only lasted from April to end of July once the BC forest fire season began and was in the deep of things for two months. During this time, my primary responsibility was to insure Longhike happened. Many of the tasks can be done quite easily in advanced of the event and mostly by email if you don't wait until the last second. A comprehensive organizational timeline for Longhike can be viewed at the link just below. I'd added my comments to the whole process this year below but both are quite similar in structure.

Just before the end of this exec term (April '10), Evans lake contacted us early (for once!) mentioning a restructuring of their rental prices and inquired about booking a date for Longhike '10. While at first it looked promising, things quickly spiraled down when we received a quote for $130/person instead of $37/person (last year) under the same requirements. After a few email exchanges, it looks like we've arrived at an impasse. The 2010-2011 VP will need to look either at a new venue (more expensive than last year's price quote from Evans lake but not as expensive as this year) or reconsider how Longhike is held. It may seems daunting but there's a few months left before October comes around, giving plenty of time to analyze the situation and find a solution if done correctly.

VP (from July): Doris Leong

I took over for Champagne because he was busy saving the world from forest fires. Note that I wasn't actually elected, but nobody seemed to mind. A general report of VP duties was compiled this year, along with organizational timelines for Longhike logistics, Winter Social logistics, and Banquet logistics. This report contains only special circumstances encountered for 2009-2010 that are not in the general report.

Longhike

Venue - Evans Lake

• They gave us the booking run-around yet again. They don't like us because we don't book an entire weekend, only one day.
• They were ultimately chosen for best quality/price ratio. Possible alternative considered venues around Squamish that could offer similar services:
  • Summit Outdoor Education Centre
    • Problem 1: Must be a dry event
    • Problem 2: Music must be turned off after 11 pm
    • Problem 3: $57/person
  • BC Easter Seals Camps (Squamish)
    • Problem 1: Lodging+Food/person = $56.85
    • Problem 2: Dinner hall rental w/ Food Service = $200
    • Problem 3: Pavilion Rental = $350

They requires the following information for booking:

• Dates
• Number of participants
• Whether serving alcohol (they need extra security if so)
• Number of breakfasts & dinners (1 per day)
  • Exact number of vegetarians can be mentioned later once the Longhike sign-up list is complete

Note that the menu has been dumbed down to simply spaghetti with salad & rolls for dinner and pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast

MEC Grassroot Grant / Door prizes

• applied for and received $200 MEC Grant in mid-July for climbing gear to be given out as door prizes. It takes 6 weeks for MEC to review the application before a formal response is given back. MEC grant applications are now done online through their website and use VOC's MEC member number 521 to sign up. We ended up with the following items:
• 1 Camp Rockstar helmet
• 6 MEC chalk bags
• 2 Apex Rock harnesses
• 5 chalk balls
• 5 ATCs

Prizes were drawn randomly based on Longhike tickets numbers

Longhike instructors

• instructors were not charged to attend Longhike

Longhike Beer

• both Doris and Champagne got serving certification, but only one person at the event needs to have it.
• Ordered 3 kegs from Howe Sound Brewery in Squamish
  • 3 kegs @ $162.18
  • 2 pumps @ $15.00 each
  • Bucket/ice - no charge
  • Total = $516.54
• A deal exists for 4 kegs + 1 free keg, pump, gas and ice bucket, but return of unfinished kegs must include the free keg (we didn't choose this option)
  • 4 kegs at regular price ($162.18 each)
  • 1 keg promo’d for the Varsity Club
  • 2 pumps @ $15.00 each
  • Buckets/ice - no charge
  • Total = $678.72
• Order must be done at least 48 hours in advance
• We had free delivery to and from Evans lake
• $200/keg credit card deposit given at purchase time, to be reimbursed once all rental equipment is returned

Longhike DJ

• Hired VOCer Arlin Kalenchuk (aka DJ AK45)
• increased Arlin's pay to $250 since it hadn't change in a few years. He supplied all equipment plus rented some lights which turned out great.
• DJ Oker was an unplanned addition - check with both Arlin and Oker whether they plan to DJ as a team.
• both DJs were not charged to attend Longhike
• we took two tables and added some couches to minimize mechanical vibrations to affect the turntable's needle.

Longhike Event

• We didn't organize cars groups to be the same as instructor groups, and some groups climbed in different locations, but the transportation seemed to work itself out. Lesson: don't work too hard on the logistics. people will faff, and it will work itself out..
• Doris didn't have any time to actually climb (results may vary)
• Broke a table at Evans Lake, charged $40 for it.
• Hard to find volunteers for clean-up, since people are more keen on climbing the next morning. Expect to do most of the cleaning yourself, with the exception of a few awesome people.

Winter Social

• held at AUS MASS Space in Buch D
  • Free of charge because someone had negotiated a special one-time only deal earlier in the year. They will charge us from now on. The cost might not make this a feasible venue in the future
  • Comes with a screen for slideshows, couches, tables, kitchen area, washroom
• We broke a table again, but this time we were able to hide the fact
• had way too much dessert, and not enough main courses, so try to limit the amount of dessert people bring

Annual Banquet

• held at St. James Community Hall ~$280
• need to pick up keys and do an orientation 2 weeks before the event
• need the AMS non-profit number (11946 0632 RT 10001) for discounted booking rate
• Microphone + speakers is booked through the Rogue Folk Club (ask St. James people) for $50. They forgot to show up this year, so we were refunded. Try to remind them just before the event, but they are very bad at responding to email.
• Slideshow presenter Kelly Franz brought prizes that were given out for trivia question answers
• Paul was the MC
• exec was instructed to bring extra food to make sure we had enough. in the end there was plenty!
• VOC provided drinks - copious amounts of juice purchased from Costco